Here’s what I’ve noticed about my browsing of the boards. I tend to skip by any topics that have had more than about 15-20 replies. Unless I’m some kind of expert on the topic, or it just seems very interesting, I presume that someone has probably already said exactly what I would have said. So my input would just be added noise to an already busy board.
In GQ, I’ve found that the question is usually answered to everyone’s satisfaction by about reply #10, after that it’s just clarification, or nitpicking, or IMHO stuff that’s about to get moved anyway. So again, I skip it.
I’ve even found myself scanning the “replies” column first before the title sometimes!
I don’t really have a cut-off point, but yes, there is a sliding scale for me. The higher the reply count already is, the more interesting the thread has to look for me to bother.
I’m less likely to check out multi-page threads, unless the topic is relating some type of interesting story (such as the thread about crazy people you’ve had contact with). Pit threads of over one page are very rare for me to read, unless I’ve been following the thread since the beginning, and even then, once the thread gets hijacked (as it inevitably does), I lose interest.
Yes, definitely. I use the “new posts” function on the home page of the board, and so I get all sorts of threads with new posts in them. Invariably there’s one on the first page of new posts that has at least 100 posts to it. Unless I’ve been posting in it, I’m not likely to want to wade into it, for the reasons expressed above. Besides, no one likes those people who come late to a thread and basically restate what was said 45 posts prior.
I’ll read pretty much anything that catches my interest–but I am less likely to post to the huge threads. Sometimes I want to kick myself for not seeing a thread earlier, because I actually have something relevant to add but by the time I get to it no one else is really interested anymore. I hate killing threads, and so I usually try to avoid posting where it seems like the topic has run its course.
I allow time to be the limiting factor for me. If I am not pressed and the topic looks interesting/serious, I feel obligated to read all the posts before I add anything. I do this partly because I don’t see how it would benefit anyone to have me randomly interject something once the thread starts to move in a certain direction. Also, as is pointed out in the OP, I don’t want to repeat something that has already been said. If I don’t have much time and there are 50 posts ahead of me, I skip it and resolve to come back later if the thread is still going. However, if its just a poll or a nonsense thread, I will post whatever comes to mind w/o reading the other posts first.
I find I’m more likely to look at the threads with high post counts in Great Debates , IMHO, or The BBQ Pit , as “if that many people posted there must be some interesting stuff there”.
In particular, if a thread with a seemingly fairly innocuous/uninteresting title in the PIT has an incongruously large post number, it usually means something’s gone off in there and its essential viewing! In IMHO the poll-type threads that are my favourites (e.g. the current “Normal foods that make you retch” tend to have high post counts). Low post-count IMHO threads are usually failures !
OTOH, in MPSIMS (and sometimes ATMB) I avoid cliquey hi-post count threads or ones that look like they’re there for the purpose of increasing post count, and in GQ the question’s normally been answered by the time the post-count has reached double-figures and it’s time for manny to euthanize it.
I’m more likely to LOOK at posts with a high number of replies.
However, I’m less likely to reply because what I want to add has probably already been added, and if it hasn’t, it will be buried such that nobody would probably read it anyway.
The factors that usually lead me to open a thread (in the order of most important to least important):
Clever/intriguing thread title OR title indicating a subject of relevance or interest to me
Identity of the OP (“But it shouldn’t matter!” Sorry, it does. If the thread was started by someone I know to be brilliant, witty or profound, I will open it even if it is entitled “The number of ceiling tiles in my downstairs bathroom”.)
Identity of the last poster in the thread. See above. Besides, if Mr./Ms. Cool Poster sees something worth commenting about the thread, maybe there is something to it.
If there is a thread with a singularly unexciting title but that thread has gone on to two or more pages, I will usually check in, thinking, “Hey! What the hell’s going on in here?” Like seeing a crowd gather and going over to see what the excitement is about. I won’t stay away from an interesting thead, though, just because it has a small number of replies. Maybe it’s just waiting for me to drop in and add that bit of radiance that it’s been waiting for. (OK, so that’s never happened, but hey.)
For me, I generally don’t keep up with a thread that runs beyond 100 posts. If I know the thread has degenerated into a running discussion that I am no longer interested in I will abandon it sooner than this. If it’s something that really holds my interest I will likely continue to follow it, especially if it is a thread to which I have posted or a thread that I originated. I am more apt to read longer threads at home than at work where I obviously have less time. If it’s past 200, I seldom bother to read it at all.
I usually don’t post to a thread that had had more than 50 replies. I figure very likely someone has either already mentioned something similar to what I would have to contribute, or by that point fewer people are going to go to the end of the post and see my response anyway. The chances for being recognized as the not-so-coveted “thread killer” for that thread (being the last one to post) is also greater on threads with more replies.
If an old thread with lots of posts in it gets bumped up to the top of the list and it looks interesting I will likely read the first 50-100 posts (depending on time and the interest I have in the content of other people’s posts). I am not likely to respond to such threads, however.
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